Why LeSean McCoy is primed for career year in Bills new offense

LeSean McCoy has been one of the NFL’s elite running backs throughout the first eight years of his career. Only five active ball-carriers have amassed more rushing yards than McCoy’s 8,954. Last season, the 28-year old ran for 1,267 yards and 13 touchdowns on 234 carries (5.4 yards-per-attempt), adding another 356 yards and one touchdown on 50 receptions. Not too shabby.

But, after eight years of ridiculous jump cuts and jukes, McCoy’s best season could be ahead of him. The Buffalo Bills hired Rick Dennison as their offensive coordinator. Dennison has spent nearly his entire coaching career alongside Gary Kubiak, an Alex Gibbs and Mike Shanahan disciple, operating a zone-blocking scheme that has consistently churned out 1,000-yard rushers on a yearly basis.

Related

Terrell Davis, Clinton Portis, Mike Anderson, Reuben Droughns, Arian Foster and Justin Forsett have all thrived within a system that emphasizes the outside stretch, inside and outside zone, inside zone and zone split. These runs require running backs that have speed, vision, agility and decisiveness at the point of attack. Sounds a bit like McCoy, no?

According to ProFootballFocus, no team was more efficient on zone runs than the Bills, as they averaged 5.38 yards-per-carry on inside zone carries and 5.23 yards-per-carry on outside zone plays last season. For perspective, the league average is 4.09 yards-per-carry and 4.06 yards-per-carry on those types of runs, respectively.

Related

McCoy’s shifty style of running makes him an ideal fit for a zone-blocking system. While a man/gap running scheme is more or less a ‘who’s stronger’ match between an offensive and defensive line, zone blocking is designed to create horizontal movement. Offensive linemen and tight ends move laterally and block a ‘zone’ rather than a defender – meaning that McCoy can use his patience and elite vision to press before slashing upfield.

Buffalo’s offensive line excelled on pin-and-pull sweeps last season due to their ability to get to the second level and seal out defenders. By working towards an area, it creates more opportunities for double teams, and by proxy, more space for the running back to work with.

Due to quarterback Tyrod Taylor’s dynamic athleticism coupled with the signing of fullback Patrick DiMarco, expect to see the Bills to run a heavy dose of outside zone with two backs.

Like this article?

Sign up for the Bills Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning

Success

Thanks for signing up.
You'll be waking up a little more awesome tomorrow.

Whoa!

Something went wrong.

Related

This presents a multitude of issues for an opposing defense, as DiMarco will lead the way to seal the force defender – a strong safety or ‘SAM’ linebacker while Buffalo’s pair of talented guards, Richie Incognito and John Miller work to take out the linebackers.

This gives McCoy three options as a runner – a bang, bend, or bounce – and the backside edge defender has to wait for him to declare his intentions, as he’s responsible for the cutback.

According to PFF, 835 of McCoy’s yardage came on runs outside the tackles last season, so he should excel on these plays just as he did a year ago.

Helping McCoy’s case for a career year is the selection of offensive tackle Dion Dawkins, who is expected to replace Jordan Mills, who struggled mightily at right tackle in 2016, so Buffalo should have more success running in either direction.

Related

McCoy’s most productive season came in 2013 when he gained 2,146 yards from scrimmage on 366 touches (5.8 yards-per-touch). Last season he accumulated 1,623 total yards on 284 touches (5.7 yards-per-touch).

Throughout his coaching career, running backs have seen an average of 78 targets in the passing game (15-percent of total pass attempts) and carried the ball on an average of 47-percent of the offensive plays. Last season, McCoy was targeted just 57 times, but he’s already looking forward to seeing that number increase in Dennison’s offense.

“That’s something I’ve been a part of, but it’s been a while since I’ve actually got the ball a lot in the air,” McCoy said. “(Dennison is) big on that, you look at all the successful running backs that’s been in his offense, from Arian Foster who I’m a big fan of, he did it on the ground and in the air.”

“Everything looks the same in our offense and it’s hard, if it’s a pass or run, you can’t tell. Being a part of that, is special to me because you don’t know what it is, and then the ability to get the ball to you running backs in open field with routes against linebackers, it’s an easy win.”

For a team that has major question marks at the wide receiver position, McCoy will be expected to carry the load for the Bills’ offense in 2017. He had a bounce-back year in 2016 and now he’ll be playing in a system tailored to his unique skills.

While many pundits will sing the praises of young running backs like Ezekiel Elliott, David Johnson and Le’Veon Bell, among others, McCoy could very well be the ball-carrier leading most statistical categories this season.